While Asiel was pondering Herdin’s firm answer, Jamie, who had been listening quietly beside him, asked Senika:

“Wasn’t the baby brought by the night fairy?”

“No, you dummy. Mommy and Daddy make it.”

“How?”

At Jamie’s innocent question, the children’s curious gazes turned to Senika.

Senika, encouraged by her friends’ attention, shared what she knew.

“I saw it in a book. First, Mommy and Daddy have to sleep in the same bed.”

“And then?”

“And if they hug tightly and kiss, a baby is made.”

“Gasp. A baby is made just by kissing? Then I kiss Mommy every day, does that mean I’m making a baby?”

Hearing Liliana’s wide-eyed question, Asiel, who had been listening, answered instead:

“No, once isn’t enough. You have to kiss a whole, whole lot for it to happen.”

It was the content described in the book he had read last night.

The children nodded, their eyes sparkling at this newly acquired knowledge.

Liliana asked:

“Then Asiel, do your Mommy and Daddy sleep in the same bed?”

“Yes. Every day.”

“What about kissing?”

“That’s…”

Once, when he had suddenly entered the greenhouse, he had seen Herdin and Blair kissing. He still vividly remembered his mother’s face turning as red as an apple at that moment.

But he hadn’t seen it since then.

Asiel’s expression darkened as he recalled that memory.

“I don’t think they do it much.”

Then Senika, as if she had found a solution, clapped her hands and shouted:

“Then let’s make Mommy and Daddy kiss a lot!”

“How?”

Not just Asiel, but the eyes of the other children gathered on the triumphant Senika.

“Well…”

* * *

“Hello, Lucy. Happy birthday.”

As Blair gently took the child’s small hand and offered her congratulations, the child smiled broadly in response.

Blair’s eyes softened more than usual as she looked at the child, much like when she used to look at Asiel in his early years.

Holding his youngest daughter in his arms, Johann expressed his gratitude to Blair.

“Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come, Duchess.”

At Johann’s greeting that pointedly omitted his old friend, his wife Monica, standing beside him, added with a smile:

“And the Duke as well.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, madam.”

“It’s my honor to be invited to this lovely young lady’s birthday.”

While they exchanged light greetings, Blair’s eyes never left the child in Johann’s arms.

Her actions of making eye contact with the child and gently stroking her small hand revealed an undisguisable love for the child.

Just as Herdin noticed Blair’s interest, Johann suggested:

“Would you like to hold her, madam?”

“Is that alright?”

“Of course. She’s quite fond of people, so she’ll probably like it.”

With even Monica, the child’s mother, chiming in, there was no reason to refuse.

Blair carefully received the child from Johann’s arms.

The soft, milky scent unique to children moved into her embrace. At the same time, the small, weighty warmth seemed to warm her heart.

“How pretty. She’s not even crying though it must be unfamiliar.”

The child smiled as if understanding the praise. A smile spread across Blair’s lips as she looked at the child.

Suddenly, a memory from long ago surfaced.

‘Asiel was once this small too.’

It was a memory that wouldn’t fade even after years, no, even after decades. But it was also a past that would never return.

As she was recalling Asiel, who had grown up and was now playing with his friends, the child in her arms reached out towards Herdin.

“Aboo!”

The child, who was said to like people, showed interest even in her father’s unfamiliar friend. Johann looked at Herdin in astonishment.

“My goodness, our daughter already has excellent aesthetic sense. But that guy is just a bad man with a shiny exterior, Lucy.”

The child, seemingly uninterested in what her father was saying, wriggled towards Herdin. Herdin, who had been staring blankly at the child, picked up Lucy. Despite not having held a child since Asiel, he seemed quite adept.

Finally in his arms, the child burst into delighted laughter.

“This is embarrassing. It seems the little miss likes that bad guy more than her daddy.”

“Lucy!”

Watching her husband’s frustrated expression, Monica chuckled and said to Herdin:

“Duke, you’d make a good father if you had a daughter. I’m a bit curious to see how you’d be, completely smitten with your daughter.”

“Right, give me back my daughter.”

Johann, taking Lucy back from Herdin, asked:

“Speaking of which, do you have plans for a second child? If you’re thinking about it, it would be good not to have too big an age gap with Asiel.”

Blair, who had been quietly smiling, stopped laughing at the sudden change in conversation.

Although it was a question she had naturally received from time to time while conversing with nobles, she always hesitated when asked.

It wasn’t something she could decide alone, and Herdin’s stance on this issue had always been consistent.

And this time too, his answer was not much different from before.

“Is there a need for more children when there’s already a clear heir?”

At Herdin’s words, which treated even having children as just a part of duty for the family, Johann shook his head as if disgusted.

“As always, you lack humanity. Children are joy and love too, you know.”

Noticing the subtle change in Blair’s smile, Monica belatedly realized that it might have been presumptuous meddling.

She quickly nudged her husband’s side.

“Well, it’s true that children are lovely, but separate from that, pregnancy and childbirth are life-risking matters for women. It’s something to think about carefully.”

After Monica smoothed over the atmosphere, nobles seeking to greet the Felick Viscount couple approached.

Blair, linking her arm with her husband’s, whispered:

“Herdin, we should get going.”

Herdin looked at her and nodded slightly.

Blair gave some final well-wishes to the child, today’s protagonist, before heading out with Herdin to where the guests were gathered.

Only then did she suddenly notice things that hadn’t been visible until now.

In the arms of the noble ladies attending this banquet were children around Lucy’s age. The warmth in her arms from holding the child earlier now felt cool.

As Blair stared blankly at the scene, she noticed nobles approaching to greet them, and put on her usual gentle smile.

“Hello, madam.”

* * *

On the bed dimly lit by the lamp’s glow, two figures were entwined like one body.

Despite the cool spring evenings, the heat the two poured towards each other was hot to the point of being humid.

Each time the two shadows deeply overlapped, heat was added to heat. At the same time, Blair let out shallow breaths that almost sounded like sobs.

“Her, din… Ah!”

As if answering her meaningless call, Herdin kissed the lips that had called him.

As their tightly pressed lips parted, a moist friction sound was added. Along with it, the friction sound from below grew louder.

It was a sound that would have made Blair blush furiously if she had been in her right mind, but now she had no reason left to think of anything else. Nothing but the heat that was digging deeper and deeper into her.

As she suffered from the sensation that seemed to reach the end but didn’t quite, he finally pushed her to the limit. At the same time, both of them collapsed onto each other, exhaling rough breaths.

“I love you, Blair.”

“Mmm…”

Blair’s toes, which had been curled tightly, slowly relaxed.

Herdin, feeling the trembling of the small body in his arms, showered her lips and nape with tiny kisses. Yet Blair’s body continued to twitch, stimulating him as if something was still lacking.

Herdin waited until her trembling completely stopped, then withdrew his body and poured out the heat he had been holding back outside.

Only then did Blair, finally regaining her senses, look at the scene with dazed eyes.

After Asiel was born, their relationship became an act solely for their own desires.

From when Asiel turned three, she occasionally brought up the topic of a second child to Herdin, but was firmly rejected each time.

Her husband generally followed her opinion on other matters, but on this issue alone, he wouldn’t budge.

And today too, although she hadn’t asked directly…

‘Is there a need for more children when there’s already a clear heir?’

His thoughts remained unchanged.

‘Would his answer change if I asked?’

As she was considering whether to bring up the topic again, an overwhelming heat invaded. He had already overlapped their bodies again.

Herdin lifted Blair, who was twitching just from the joining, and sat her on his legs.

“It seems you have the luxury for other thoughts, madam.”

“Ah…”

Just as he was about to move again, holding her slender waist, Blair cautiously opened her mouth.

“Herdin, what do you think about… having a second child?”

Herdin paused at that question. Blair seized the opportunity to present her opinion.

“I want to give Asiel a sibling before it’s too late. Think about it. Wouldn’t you like it if we had a daughter who takes after me?”

“You’d suffer for ten months carrying and giving birth, and it could be a boy, Blair.”

“Then Asiel would get a little brother to play with, and we’d have another cute son.”

Blair caressed his cheek and met his eyes. Her touch, waiting for an answer, was tinged with anxiety.

But the answer that came back was the same this time too.

“Asiel is enough for our child.”

As if not wanting to hear any more objections, he started moving before Blair could say anything.

Herdin kissed the lips of his wife, who was letting out shallow moans, and whispered:

“I’m sufficiently happy now, Blair.”

It was a terribly affectionate autocracy.